2025 Junior & Cadet Worlds Recap, Day 5 (Cadet Foil): Liu Completes Double, Yang Strikes Gold for Team USA

WUXI, China — A full day of fencing against the world’s best up-and-comers can be exhausting, but doing it two days in a row requires someone truly extraordinary.

Enter Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas). On Friday, she added a Cadet Women’s Foil world championship to her growing résumé, just 24 hours after capturing the Junior Women’s Foil title at the 2025 Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China.

“I’m really, really tired,” she says. “I don’t know if I can walk tomorrow, but probably, hopefully. I’ll try to get the best sleep I can.”

Liu becomes the first athlete to sweep both the Cadet and Junior world championships in the same year since Team USA’s Magda Skarbonkiewicz OLY did so in women’s saber in 2022. On top of that, she repeated as the Cadet Women’s Foil champion, having won the title in 2024.

“Last year, I definitely think it was a shock for me to win,” she says. “I also wasn’t tired at all, but today? I’m hella tired, and I didn’t think I’d pull this off. But I was able to bring it home. So that was really nice.”

Liu’s title was one of two gold medals for Team USA on Friday. In the men’s event, Luao Yang (Renaissance Fencing Club) became the first U.S. Cadet Men’s Foil world champion since Daniel Zhang’s 2021 victory.

“This morning, I wasn’t feeling so great,” Yang says, “and now, at the end of the day, coming out on top? It’s a great feeling.”

Yang finished fifth last year in Saudi Arabia, just one round short of the medals. That near miss fueled his drive.

“I wanted to do better than I did last year,” he says. “I wanted to push through, and I got the gold.”

Aiden Siu (SoCal Fencing Center) took bronze in Cadet Men’s Foil and admits he surprised even himself.

“I’ve been fencing for like, five, six years now, and ever since I started, I didn’t really think I was gonna be the best,” he says. “But now, I’m here on the world stage. It really means a lot to me.”

Next up is the Junior Foil Team event, where Liu will look to add a third medal to her Wuxi haul. On the men’s side, Team USA is looking to repeat as world champions.

Gold and 2025 Cadet World Champion: Jaelyn Liu (Star Fencing Academy, Fencing Institute of Texas)

9th: Caterina Fedeli (Epic Fencing Club)

47th: Rebecca Cho (Top Fencing Club)

Gold and 2025 Cadet World Champion: Luao Yang (Renaissance Fencing Club)

Bronze: Aiden Siu (SoCal Fencing Center)

11th: Jayden Hooshi (East Coast Fencing Club)